Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Harpoon Triticus and its mammoth 14% kick. This past Saturday, I went to the Asgard in Cambridge, and saw the familiar logo on one of the taps (the logo I recognized because I put it in my post, lo those many weeks ago.) I asked the bartender what it was, and he said it was the Leviathan Imperial IPA. Ah, so it was true. There was more in this Leviathan series. And at 10%, I could enjoy this and still settle in for an evening of drinking and baseball.

This was definitely different than the Triticus, not as think and Scotch-like. Still not to be chugged (and I can say this because I did down the last few gulps quickly) but certainly an excellent beer, one of the best IPA's I've ever tasted. And that is saying something.

The scoop on the Leviathan series? Well, from their website:

The Harpoon Leviathan Series surfaced at Harpoon in the summer of 2008. The series is an exploration in brewing big beers for adventurous palates. Leviathan beers will be brewed in 120-barrel batches. The beers will be available in 4-packs and on draft for distribution.

Crap! Summer? This is already Fall? Will I still be able to score this stuff? How many of them are there? Will it be back next summer? Will I ever see you again?

Clearly, this calls for a hard-target search or every liquor store, packy, bar, tavern, brewery or hole-in-the-wall dive in the Boston area. And if anyone sees or hears anything about this, sound the alarm and let me know. I will be eternally grateful.

Monday, October 13, 2008

First off, let me say something surprising. Fall is here (Well, no surprise there), and while this is one of my favorite beer seasons, I find myself continuing to buy Sam Adams Octoberfest. There's certainly nothing wrong with it (In fact, it's the ebst Sam makes), but I think I should be branching out a little. And it's not like Sam is even cheaper than other folks. I bought a six pack the other night for $8.99. Come on, Sam! Where's the love?

Anyway, that's not what I was going to write about. I had a funny experience at my friend's birthday gathering the other day. I was meeting the rest of the party at Mantra in Downtown Crossing in Boston, a fine Indian restaurant by day and apparently a club by night (which i only found out later.) I arrived first and so I hunkered down at the bar and asked what they had for beer. The selection was rather slim. I ordered a Taj Mahal (when in Rome, right?). It's a lager, which I tend to shy away from, but this one was good. Beer Advocate gave it a pretty bad grade, but I didn mind it. Not too big or small. Not too bitter. Tasted good, kind of thin. I'm not sure if it went with the Marinated Spring Chicken I ordered for dinner, but who cares?

The funny thing is that when the rest of my party arrived and I paid my bar tab, the bartender mentioned that he was looking into getting some new kinds of beer, and asked if I had any suggestions. I wasn't sure if I gave off some sort of vibe or smelled of beer, or if I have reached some level of fame, but it was kind of cool. I told him Sierra Nevada and he said, "Oh yeah. I've heard of them." I groaned and walked away.